Lot n° 471
Estimation :
250 - 300
EUR
Result
: NC
VOLTAIRE / François Xavier DE FELLER - Newton in the 18th ce - Lot 471
VOLTAIRE / François Xavier DE FELLER - Newton in the 18th century: Newtonian philosophy popularized by Voltaire and challenged by Feller, between science and metaphysics. - Set of 2 books.
Liège, J. F. Bassompierre, 1788. In-12: [4]-xii-257-[3] pp. Muted contemporary paperback (paper missing from spine).
1 : VOLTAIRE - Élémens de la philosophie de Neuton, mis à la portée de tout le monde. Amsterdam, Étienne Ledet, 1738. In-8°: [6], xii, 399, [1 (errata)], 401-410, [6] pp. (Paper lightly and uniformly yellowed). Glazed calf (ex. with loose boards). Unbound copy of 1st ed. to which the Dutch booksellers have added chapter XXVI Du Flux et du reflux. Illustrated with 1 gr. frontispiece by J. Folkema after L.-F. Du Bourg, 1 title vignette engraved by Duflos after Folkema, the portrait of Voltaire engraved by Folkema, 27 bands, 22 culs-de-lampe, 6 plates and 1 folding table out of text. Written on his return from England, the Élémens is the great work of popularization through which Voltaire introduced Newton to France. Presented as being "within everyone's reach", the work exposes the discoveries of universal gravitation, optics and differential calculus, and contrasts them with Cartesianism. In clear, brilliant language, Voltaire was a philosopher and propagator, laying the foundations for Newton's continental reception. Such was his success that he soon provoked vigorous rebuttals, including those of Feller, who sought to stem the spread of a science that had become emblematic of the Enlightenment. Ref. Bengesco, II, 1570, notice p. 29. Provenance: Alchemical heraldic ex-libris bearing the motto "Dieu et mon roy", ex-libris Édouard Rastoin.
2 : François Xavier de FELLER - Observations philosophiques sur les systêmes de Newton, le mouvement de la terre & la pluralité des mondes, dialogues des morts sur le séjour des vivans : avec une dissertation sur les tremblemens de terre, les épidémies, les orages, les inondations, &c. Third edition, corrected & enlarged. Liège, J. F. Bassompierre, 1788. In-12: [4]-xii-257-[3] pp. Muted contemporary paperback (paper missing from spine). A Catholic, anti-light response to the spread of Newtonian philosophy popularized by Voltaire, this work by Liège Jesuit François-Xavier de Feller (1735-1802), director of Mémoires de Trévoux and author of the Dictionnaire historique, sets out to ruin the foundations of Newton's system. Feller rejected the movement of the earth and the plurality of worlds, denouncing a science that claimed to explain the universe without God. The dialogues of the dead and the dissertation on natural plagues continue this attack on the philosophical spirit of the Enlightenment, asserting the primacy of theology over experimental reason.
TOGETHER 2 VOLUMES.
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